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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.

the father to their own retreat at Närvé.”

The

he was benighted on the bank of a stream near Nirmalápura (modern Nemmär.) He stopped there to perform his evening religious rites, when a Rakshasa named Vyāghra (tiger) rushed upon him with the object of swallowing him up. The holy man thereupon threw a drop of water upon the Rakshasa from the nail of his little finger, and instantly the demon quitted the body of the tiger, and begged the Rishi to tell him what he should do. Rishya Sriiga directed him to go to Sarvesvara (a Lingam so called), and by doing so the quondam tiger attained mºksha (salvation). “Next day Rishya Śrīga proceeded to the Sah yādri, and performed tapas there for seven years in honour of Mahā Vishnu. That god told him

enchanted young man one day asked his en chanters the object which prompted their un usual attentions. They gave him highly be guiling pictures of the wealth and beauty of their own country, and invited him to go with them to enjoy the same. The young Rishi was com pletely overcome by the artifices of these deluders, and consented. Taking advantage of the fa ther's absence at the river-side, the dancing

girls took Rishya Sriiga with them and started for Angadēśa.

In the mean time the long

withheld rains descended upon that country,

and there was soon joy, plenty, and prosperity in it. Römapāda took a large retinue about

halfway and met Rishya Sriiga, and conducted

to go to an incarnation of Siva, called Chandra Sekhara, at the foot of the Sahyādri mountain.

him to his capital, where every honour and worship was paid to him. Some time after, the Mahārāja praising the Rishi very much, offered

The Rishi went to the spot indicated, and peered at it through the darkness with half-closed eyes. Hence the place is called Kigga, from Kig gannu, the half-open eye. The Rishi again per

to give him his daughter, Sântâdévi, in mar riage, and the offer was accepted. The wedding came off with due pomp and éclat, and the happy bridegroom dwelt for some time in the country of his adoption. ‘About this period, Daśaratha, king of Ayo dhya, was in deep distress from the absence of an heir to his throne. Närada paid him a visit, and, divining the cause of his host's dejection,

formed tºpus, and Chandra Sekhara appeared before him and asked what he wanted.

ya

cordingly Paramesvara became one with Rishya

Sriiga,

Although this spot is not exactly on the bank

of the Tuigabhadrā, still the Purānas say so, as the rivers Nandini and Nalini flow respec tively from the left and right of it, and join the

Dašaratha did accordingly,

and Rishya Sriiga conducted a yºjna (sacrifice)

directions of Agni, whose prophecy was duly ful filled.

Rishya Sriñga soon after

returned to his

father's old Ašrama, but did not find him there. His

father's disappearance afflicted him very much, whereupon Vibhāndaka emerged from the Linga of Malahānisvara. The son was overjoyed, paid him due reverence, and asked him where he could best conduct tapas. Vibhāndaka re ferred him, however, to Mahā Vishnu, who was

whose name also became celebrated in

the world.’

Sriiga, who would bring about the realiza

called Putra Kāmeshti in which the god Agni came out of the sacrificial fire, and handing a cup of Paramänna (Pāyasa), told the Rāja to distri bute its contents among his wives, whereby he would get four sons, named Rāma, Lakshmana, Bharata, and Satrughna. The god thereupon vanished out of sight. Dašaratha followed the

Rishya

Siiga begged that Paramºśvara would absorb himself within his (Rishya Sriiga's) soul. Ac.

advised him to invite to his court the Muni Rish

tion of his wishes.

[MAY, 1873.

Tuñgabhadrā at Nemmär.

It will be perceived from the foregoing that the interested Brahmans have woven a marvel

lous story, however preposterous, round a plain

natural fact. This legend has been extracted from the Skånda Purána. A portion of the

same is related, in somewhat different language, in the Mahābhārata Aranyaparva, (Adhyāyās 110 to 113.) Also in the Rāmāyana Balakanda (chapters 9 to 17). On the back part of many temples of note

there are at present well cut representations in

relief of the manner in which the privileged Rishya Sriiga was conveyed from the quiet of his

living in the Sahyādri hills. Rishya Sriiga was

father's hermitage by the creatures who were sent on the mission by Rómapāda. The accom

accordingly proceeding in that direction, when

panying cut is a copy of the one in the temple

• The Rāmāyana says—beneath wide-spreading creepers

and climbing plants, and in their boats. See Wheeler,

Hist. of India, Vol. II. pp. 12, 13.−ED. t Conf. Wheeler, Hist. Ind. Vol. II. pp. 21, 22.-Ep,